8.2 eCommerce

The eCommerce App

Odoo eCommerce extends the Website app into a full online store. It adds the shop, product pages, cart, checkout, and customer portal on top of the same product, pricing, inventory, and accounting data used in the back office. The exam concentrates on how a product becomes buyable online and how the checkout is configured end to end.

Publishing products online

A product only appears in the shop when it is published. From the product form you use Go to Website and toggle Published, or publish directly while browsing the shop as an editor. Products are organized with eCommerce Categories (distinct from internal product categories) that drive the shop's navigation and filters. Each product's eCommerce settings control its shop description, extra images, its ribbon (for example "Sale" or "New"), and its alternative, accessory, and optional products used for cross-selling and up-selling.

Product pages and variants

Product attributes such as Color or Size generate variants, and the shop renders them as selectable options — swatches, dropdowns, or radio buttons — on the product page. Each variant can carry its own price extra, image, and stock quantity. Visitors pick a variant, set a quantity, and choose Add to Cart or Buy Now. Optional products can be offered on the product page or in an add-to-cart dialog to raise the order value.

Cart and checkout

The shopping cart collects lines before purchase. Checkout runs through a predictable sequence:

1. Review Order — confirm items, quantities, and any applied coupon.
2. Address — billing and shipping details, or sign in.
3. Delivery — pick a shipping method and see its cost.
4. Payment — choose a payment provider and pay.
5. Confirmation — the order and receipt page.

Abandoned-cart automation can email shoppers who leave without paying, and express checkout can shorten the flow for returning buyers.

Customer accounts and the portal

Shoppers can check out as guests or with an account. A registered customer gets the portal, where they see order history, quotations, invoices, delivery status, and saved addresses. The portal reuses the same partner record as Sales and Accounting, so a customer's online orders and offline invoices live together on one contact.

Payment providers

Online payments run through payment providers — the term that replaced the older "payment acquirers." Common providers include Stripe, PayPal, Adyen, Razorpay, Mercado Pago, and Authorize.net, plus manual methods such as wire transfer. Each provider is set to Test or Enabled (production) mode, with its API credentials entered in its configuration, and can be restricted by country, currency, or website. Stripe also powers Odoo's inline card fields.

Delivery methods and shipping connectors

Delivery is configured under Configuration ▸ Delivery Methods. The main types are:

Shipping connectors integrate carriers such as FedEx, UPS, USPS, DHL, bpost, Easypost, and Sendcloud, returning real-time rates at checkout and generating tracking numbers and labels from the delivery order.

Taxes online

How tax appears in the shop is a frequent exam point. In Configuration ▸ Settings you choose whether product prices display tax-excluded (B2B) or tax-included (B2C). Fiscal positions then remap taxes automatically from the customer's country or tax status — charging EU VAT, US sales tax, or none for an export — and integrations such as AvaTax/TaxCloud can calculate destination-based tax at checkout.

Pricelists and promotions

eCommerce prices are governed by pricelists, which can vary by customer group, quantity, currency, or website, and can be either shopper-selectable or auto-applied. On top of pricing, promotions and coupons drive discounts:

• Coupon programs issue single-use codes for a fixed or percentage discount.
• Promotion programs apply automatically when conditions are met — minimum spend, specific products, or buy-X-get-Y.
• Free-shipping and free-gift rewards are configured the same way.

Checkout and selling options

Settings let you tune the buying experience: enable or hide Buy Now (which skips the cart), require sign-in or allow guest checkout, add an extra checkout step for terms acceptance, and set a minimum order amount. A product can be restricted to whole units only, and you control whether customers may order out-of-stock items or are blocked at zero. Quotation requests let B2B buyers turn a cart into a Sales quotation for a rep to finalize, and eCommerce reporting covers sales, conversion, and top products — all reading the same orders the Sales app manages.

Shopper tools and stock display

Beyond core buying, eCommerce adds engagement features that also affect the exam: an optional wishlist, side-by-side product comparison, and customer ratings and reviews on product pages. You can show stock availability (for example "In stock" or remaining units) and even block or allow selling below zero. Digital or downloadable products deliver a file or link after payment rather than shipping goods. Because pricelists, promotions, taxes, and stock all read the shared product and partner data, the price a visitor sees online matches what Sales would quote the same customer — one catalog and one pricing engine, whether the order arrives through the shop, a salesperson, or the POS.